When looking at this photograph circulating in the main news the title of the in/famous 1936 novel of the Louis-Ferdinand Céline came to mind – Mort à Crédit – because when one has to give credit these two people with a word that strongly associated with them then these two words come up… they hang as invisible text balloons over their heads as if they were spoken in this tête à tête of two people who got to their actual power position in a similar way. One by being born into a royal family, the other by marrying a future king. The associated novel content of Céline (a master novelist and champion anti-semite at the same time) is summarised in a Wikipedia article on it:

“… sordid stories of families whose destiny is governed by their own stupidity, malice, lust and greed …”

I think it fits the related personal and world events of these two very well, I explain why below.

Queen Maxima is also apointed as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA), her specialism being ‘micro-credits’. The mangament of her personal economics is not much ‘in-line’ with this task as she has recently be exposed in her home land Argentina for tax evasion over property that she had aquired in Patagonia. Her family history may explain how she can “turn a blind eye” on the practices of the man who sits opposite her, the Saudi omnipotent cron-prince who has implicated himself in the silencing of Saudi dissidents, which in one well exposed case led to the killing and dismemberment of well know Saudi dissent Jamal Kashoggi. Worse in the sense of the number of fatalities has been the involvement of crown-prince Mohammad bin Salman – as minister of Defence – in the raging war in Yemen, whereby Saudi Arabia as a proxy for the United States fighting (indirectly) the growing influence of Iran in Yemen (to remind those who blame Trump for all badness of the USA, this deal was made under Obama). Since the year 2016 Saudi Arabia’s airforce (supported by the British and the Americans) have strafed what are supposed to be strongholds of enemies of the Saudi’s.. areal bombardments which have been exposed by many international observers and local human rights organisations of causing more collateral victims than succesful hits on so called military targets.

Queeen Maxima’s father, Jorge Zorreguieta, comes from a rich Argentinian agriculture trading family and he has served also as a deputy minister during the Argentina Junta, taking on also other resposibilities involving him as weel in what is called by the euphemism of ‘interior security’. During that tenure several memebers of the staff for who Jorge Zorreguieta was responsible “disappeared”… as he managed to get his ass out of this mess before the donwfall of the junta, he has managed to evade prosecution during his life-time.
Of course the daughter of such a white collar criminal is not supposed to carry responsibilities for the bad history of her father, but it is striking how Maxima repeats the irresponsibility and ignorance of her own father . Like him she has a strong drive to public fame and an underdeveloped sense of morality and responsibility.

Economics and credits come in yet in another way in the relation between the two royal houses of the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, with the log standing financial interests of the Dutch’House of Orange’ and world oil companies. Royal Shell is the most prominent expression of that. The grandmother of King Willem Alexander bought early on many shares in this successful company and only a few years ago in 2015 King Willem Alexander flew in to Saudi Arabia to pay his respects to the deceased Saudi King Abdullah, an act that was at that time criticised by some because of the abhorent state of human rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This citation I took from the news service Al Jazeera (yes I know all big players on the international media market are somehow participating also in the creation of the misery they expose):

“Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is facing a barrage of criticism over a meeting she had with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the G20 summit in Japan. // Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, who has been investigating the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, accused Maxima of complicity by not discussing the case with the crown prince.“If you do not speak and do not demand justice, it suggests that you have no concerns,” Callamard told Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad on Saturday.” (…)“Silence, turning a blind eye, a ‘business as usual approach’ towards the increasingly aggressive tactics of too many autocrats; those are not the characteristics of leadership that we should expect.”

NB mostly pictures taken of Maxima tend to be charming and/or embellishing, this one NOT… one can not escape second thoughts… is she stupified?… does she experience a moment of memory loss?… also one can see she is taken notes in some kind of cahier, or it her brieving notes?… all very non-monarch style.. monarchs do not make notes, they have their retinue to take care of such commoners things…

GREXIT Zeus throwing his thunderbolts through the Euro-pean aether (*)

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(*) Grexit: Grexit is a slang term introduced in 2012 in world business trading. It is a portmanteau combining the words Greece and exit, referring to the possibility that Greece could have to leave the Eurozone, and thus would have to readopt their old currency, the drachma. The term was introduced by Citigroup’s Chief Analysists Willem H. Buiter and Ebrahim Rahbari on the 6 February 2012.

For an inside report of the lecture in the guarded off hall of Cambridge Student’s ‘Union Society’ I can recommend the student’s paper ‘The TAB Cambridgetab.co.uk” in its issue of Saturday, 10 March 2012 which has several readers comments from within the Cambridge student community:

<quote> Dominique Strauss-Kahn managed to talk about economics for most of the evening to an under-capacity Union, but the ex-IMF Chief was forced from home turf when a student asked about rape allegations made earlier this year. Will Lawn, a 3rd year student from King’s College asked Strauss-Kahn to “explain why Diallo had vaginal bruising the day after you met her,” referring to the hotel maid who alleges that DSK raped her in May 2011. Security, who flanked DSK throughout the talk, tried to rush him out, but both Strauss-Kahn and Union President Katie Lam let him finish his question. Strauss-Kahn responded by saying: “I’m not quite sure that’s the topic of this evening. New York dismissed the case… What more do you want?”</quote>

<quote>But while there was limited opposition within the chamber, outside the Union the atmosphere was vitriolic. Behind the debating chamber over 200 protesters clashed with police and security, parading anti-DSK placards and chanting slogans such as “No more violence, no more rape” and ”DSK, go away, justice for Diallo.” Activists also clashed with a pro-DSK campaigner, ripping the sign he was carrying, which was covered in free speech slogans.</quote>

<quote>Chants were audible throughout the talk, but when asked about the protests Strauss-Kahn said: ”We live in a culture of freedom; they are allowed to do what they want, even if I think they are wrong.”</quote>

<quote>In a statement released shortly after the event, the Union emphasised that: “there was no restriction on questions from the audience or on their content”, adding that Lawn was approached by security after his question because “a private security guard mistakenly interpreted this question as an attempt to disrupt the event… his actions had not breached the code of conduct for the event.”</quote>

I id post a reaction on this blog that can be found at the end of this posting. (**)

The lecture took place on Friday, March 9 at the University of Cambridge with a confident Strauss Kahn in spite of protests outside the lecture hall.

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(*) Documentation on the mechanical schemes of the functioning of the human body by Fritz Kahn, can be found here…

“Not guilty until proven” seems to be a strong proDSK argument, but those who use it apparently did NOt follow the way how someone with lots of power and lots of money could wriggle out of almost any justice procedure.

Casting doubt on the status of a victim is one of the ugly aspects of such a process. Next are conspiracy theories and there were several suggestions of attempts at framing a prospected French President candidate. The the colour of the victim versus the colour of the perpetrator and discriminatory law practices was brought in also, amplified with the aspect of class differences and discrimination of women. Differences also of culture, between a more protective attitude toward private life of politicians and officials in France versus the overt judgemental morality stance taken in the USA further obscured the issue. This bristle cloud of public debate has thrown so much dust in the air that Dominique Strauss Kahn’s lawyers managed to wriggle him out of prison, into a luxurious safe house and finally had him acquitted and free to leave the USA. There is NO Truth to be found in this kind of sensational cases. They do get Mythical and a myth is a unstable piece of lore that – nevertheless – does have some founding in a real event that occurred in whatever way in the past.

There was an escapade of DSK in a New York Hotel and the chances that this was just a spontaneous consensual ‘rendezvous’ are at best hypothetical. More important DSK has a history of non-consensual relieve of his libido upon the bodies of ladies of which some have found the courage to express their disgust and anger publicly. All cases not formerly proved, none that has lead to a conviction. Muffling by hired lawyers of free speech, and whatever undisclosed means of pressure available to a man of political power like DSK, form the basis of his actual standing. Arguing that honouring an earlier invitation to the Student Union of Cambridge (as I understood) of DSK should be kept in the name of ‘free speech’ is preposterous.

What remains is DSK’s record as an economist and his abilities to influence the global market in a remarkable way. None of this seems to be true in the eyes of economists, there are monitoring and evaluation reports of his own International Monetary Fund – nicely put on-line – that take a critical stance at his performance in this field. Here is an introductory text and the source link “The affair DSK and the forgotten IMF self-criticism report of May 20, 2011”: http://wp.me/pw0cu-11S

My suggestion is a less emotional and more analytical approach to the now historic DSK in Cambridge case. What I did find most ‘endearing’ was not only reading your magazine, but also the photographof the actual crummy stage of the Student Union lecture hall, that must have been such a non-glorious and shaming stand for Dominique Strauss Kahn to end up as a speaker in such an environment. Just compare it with the glamorous settings of his Far East come back attempt as a speaker on an economic conference in Bejing in December 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76fm35fycG4

Comment on TAB student paper blog by 'Cambridge Moonion': Re: "crummy stage". The actual room is a pretty amazing example of Victorian architecture. He was just giving his speech from the back of the room rather than the front because he needed to be near a door for security reasons. The lecture is since monday March 12 also available in video on the official web site of the Cambridge Union Society. (****)

In contrast an image of the Beijing business conference performance of Dominique Strauss Kahn, this come back event was arranged before DSK was once more publicly associated with a prostitution ring embracing two continents, form Lille in the North of France to New York. (***)

Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn delivers a speech at an economy conference organized by Chinese Internet company Netease in Beijing, China, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. -- click picture for link to original article ---

(***) Le Monde: Infographie Comprendre l’affaire du Carlton en trois minutes. Mis à jour le 20.02.12. An animated information graphic in the form of a narrated organigram that explains the complicated set up of the Lille/New York prostitution ring (L’Affaire Carlton) in which Dominique Strauss Kahn also plays his own role. The narration is in French.

Comprendre l'affaire du Carlton en trois minutes (Understanding the Carlton Affaire in three minutes) - click image to go directly to the page of Le Monde and click the button 'démarrer' to start the info graphic.

(****) “The global financial climate, globalization and the Eurozone” at http://www.cus.org with several applauding comments in favour of DSK..

“Bonnet d’âne pour le FMI” (dunce’s cap for the IMF; literary ‘donkey’s cap’) I read in Le Monde Diplomatique of August 2011, with a sarcastic comment by Pierre Rimbert on how the arrest of Dominique Strauss Kahn for sexual assault of a hotel worker on May 15th overshadowed a self-critical report of the International Monetary Fund by its own “Independent Evaluation Office” (IEO) published on May 20. The report itself is on-line and worthwhile reading, because the ‘economic assault of international banks’ on all of us is too easily overlooked as we all like daily scandal better…

“…the relevance of research to authorities and its utilization were hampered by the lack of early consultation with country authorities on research themes and by a lack of country and institutional context.” [page 27; paragraph 75]

“…there is a widely held perception that IMF research is message driven. About half of the authorities held this view, and more than half of the staff indicated that they felt pressure to align their conclusions with IMF policies and positions. Policy recommendations provided in some research publications did not follow from the research results, and a number of country authorities and researchers noted that IMF research tended to follow a pre-set view with predictable conclusions that did not allow for alternative perspectives. This detracted from the quality and credibility of studies and reduced their utilization.” [page 28; paragraph 77]

“…there was no IMF-wide leadership of research. Research activities were highly decentralized, and there was very limited coordination across departments. There was no mechanism to set IMF-wide priorities or quality standards. Collaboration among staff across departments was limited and mostly based on personal relationships.” [page 28; paragraph 79]

Click picture for bigger version and test the QR-code: tested with iPad 2 and 4 QR-code apps: QR HD, Scan, QRdeCode, Qrafter (the last one is the best as it zooms automatically and is a free app) It should bring you directly to the report of IEO "Research at the IMF: relevance and utilization."

Reading the self-critic report of the IMF made me check its reception and how it was related to the impact of Strauss Kahn and his short lived IMF reign. It lead me to the English language Turkish newspaper ‘Today’s Zaman’ (said to be close to the Turkish Justice and Development Party) and a long comment by their columnist Asim Erdilek, from which I took this citation:

What both IEO reports omit, however, is that since 2008 the IMF’s official views have been moving away from the Washington Consensus. This began under the former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former socialist French finance minister, who chose his compatriot MIT macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard to be the IMF economic counselor and research department director (see my columns “The IMF’s evolving policy makeover” (1) and (2), published on Feb. 22 and March 1, 2010, respectively). In several recent publications the IMF has demonstrated its tilting to the left in economic policies by calling for higher inflation rates as well as greater financial regulation in developed countries and for capital controls in developing countries. We have to wait and see whether this tilting to the left will continue, creating an opposite research bias, under the IMF’s controversial new managing director, also from France.

Christine Lagarde one of the few ministers in the cabinet of Sarkozy’s UMP party that survived the frequent reshuffles of France’s president (“Le joker de Sarkozy”; Le Figaro; 2009), is a lawyer by profession and not an economist, she is known for publicly denying bad news and proposing her view of “la vie en rose.“:

If she will be anything more than a mouthpiece for the international banking world is doubtful, if her method of public broadcasted optimism is enough to quell the financial crisis is most unlikely.

The conspiracy theories that have been circulating with Dominique Strauss Kahn as a supposed leftist belonging to the French Socialist Party, to be discredited by a schemed sexual intervention, leading to the appointment of another French director of the IMF from the right wing UMP party of Sarkozy, are grotesque. DSK is a man finding apparently pleasure in risky violent sexual behaviour. The coming-out of the lady he assaulted, did also put an end to any Hollywood movie inspired conspiracy story, with high class call girls on secret missions. It was indeed just a lady doing hotel work who befell the outrageous assault. Sarkozy may even not have been comfortable with the demise of DSK, as with DSK the interest of France in an international organisation, was some how manifest, at a level beyond national politics. That a politician like Sarkozy grabs the occasion delivered to him by DSK’s fall, is obvious, but this was first of all a improvised emergency measure. And so Christine Lagarde, promoted by France, added this “personal touch to her pitch to lead this global institution” for the board of IMF directors on on June 22, 2011:

“I stand here as a woman, hoping to add to the diversity and balance of this institution. I stand here as former head of an international law firm with a dedication to integrity, to the highest moral standards and a belief in participative management. I stand here as a Finance minister who has been tested in times of crisis. I would like to put these skills and experience at work to serve the International Monetary Fund”

‘Rue 89’ a daily platform for commenting the news has a comment on a radio interview with Lagarde still as the French minister of finance with ‘France Inter’ on April 11th this year, where she also has to answer questions by listeners. A pensioned lady comes in the broadcast and explains how she tries to live on 800 Euros a month and succeeds only to cover 15 days with this amount. Comes the answer of Lagrande:

“Le gouvernement a tout a fait conscience de votre problème et c’est pour cela qu’il a décidé d’augmenter de 2% les pensions de minimum vieillesse.” (The government has been completely conscious of your problem and has therefore decided to augment with 2% the minimum elderly pensions)

The commentator on ‘Rue 89’, the economist Jean Matouk, precises in his article (*) the actual government measures, 4,7% augmentation for the minimum elderly income and 2% for the pensions. Matouk tells us in a sarcastic tone also to what it boils down: “16 Euros more pro month. What is she moaning about?” The next question to Finance Minister Lagarde from radio listeners make her jumps from tens of Euros to milliards, as the support for Greece and other “weak economies” in Europe and its financial consequences are brought in. I will not cite the whole interview here, details are on-line in French, but what is striking, is the correlation between the way the poor pension lady is helped by Lagarde and her world of high finances and the way ‘global economy’ is handled by the same forces.

Christine Lagarde riding the Euro bull in front of the European Parliament Building in Strassbourg while the New York Wall Street bull is waiting her, a symbol of the recovery of the American people from the stock market crash of 1987 by the Italian-American artist Arturo Di Monica, who placed the sculpture on his own initiative at first, later integrated as a city highlight. The charging bull shows in Di Monica's words: "the energy, strength, and unpredictability of the stock market." (**)

“I stand here as a Finance minister who has been tested in times of crisis.” The pitch from Lagarde for the board of directors of the IMF and she did get the job. “Been tested” seems to be the ability of politicians to remain in the saddle during an economic rodeo, which does not mean that the bull she has been riding has been tamed. Alternative forms of domestication are needed and there seem to be no ‘alternative views’ possible with the IMF, neither with the board of directors, nor with their new head Lagarde, let me cite again IMF’s Internal Evaluation Office May 2011 report:

“researchers noted that IMF research tended to follow a pre-set view with predictable conclusions that did not allow for alternative perspectives.”

It is ‘alternative perspectives’ on economy we need to put an end to orchestrated ‘economic assaults’ that are at the basis of the legal system of our societies and remain thus – most of the times – unpunished

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(*) Vivre avec 800 € par mois quand les banques enfument le monde (‘Living on 800 Euros a month while the banks smokes up the world’; there is a double meaning here in ‘enfumer’, one of a smoke screen, the other of something being fucked).